An entrepreneur and an inventor both have their own financial rewards. Being an inventor takes a lot of creativity and innovation to be able to come up with an idea that no one has thought of yet; a unique idea for a product or service that has never been introduced in the market; an idea that could be the next big thing. An entrepreneur, meanwhile, is a business-minded person that can use existing products and services and customize them according to the specific needs of target market of his business. The entrepreneur will put his own brand onto the product or service and make it uniquely his own.

Being an inventor, your ideas could be of use to consumers in the commercial market. Companies would be willing to buy that idea and make it their own for reproduction. Ideas can be licensed or be rented by many companies. When you come up with novel idea, protection for the idea can then be filed in the right government agency. You can then look for a company that will be interested in your idea and will greatly benefit from it.

If a certain company has shown interest, the inventor can then personally contact that company and set up a meeting. If the inventor feels that the relationship with the company is comfortable enough and the product idea will satisfy a need that has been identified in the market, the idea will then be under license to that company. The inventor can just a collect a royalty from that idea every quarter of the year. There are some licensed ideas that lasted for many years with the same company while others can be short-lived. Licensing product ideas just deal with the numbers. There is not a single company or person that can have all the ideas. Coming up with an idea or inventing is a limitless activity. The trend for many companies have been to look for licensed product ideas from inventors that are not employed by their company.

Being an entrepreneur can also be very lucrative. An inventor can decide to market his own idea if he has the resources to do so. Turning that idea into a reality and a business can be certainly a challenge. For the first time entrepreneur, a simple idea might be a good way to start because this would not cost that much money to create.

An entrepreneur is in control of all his ideas and the way in which he brings those ideas to life and markets them. An inventor, however, surrenders much of the control of the idea when it is under license to a company. Running your own business requires complete control. You are in charge of every aspect of the product, from production, marketing to distribution. There are financial risks involved in venturing into a business. There is little risk in the licensing of an idea. One can only gain from it. There is no big investment required in being an inventor.

It is really up to you if you will consider being an inventor or an entrepreneur. You have to weigh all the advantages and disadvantages before you decide on the path to take. What is important is that you will be able to convert your idea into something useful and at the same time reap financial rewards for it.

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